


72 Hour Nap

by DestinyLeane



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 12:38:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20976023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyLeane/pseuds/DestinyLeane
Summary: Spinel learns about sleeping and takes it a tad too far.





	72 Hour Nap

"So you just like, lay Down and close your eyes." Amethyst directed, laying down with Steven and Peridot on the sleeping bags they had brought to the living room. 

"And think of nothing, or if it helps, you can think of stuff." Steven added, resting his hands on his stomach. 

Spinel glanced at Peridot, who seemed to have the same amount of confusion on her face. But Peridot had at least some experience with the general concept of sleep. 

"And this is supposed to revitalize our energy reserves somehow?" She questioned, mimicking the two and working herself into one of the spare sleeping bags.   
Spinel followed suit, wiggling her way to comfort inside the warm sack and watching as Steven and Amethyst stilled themselves. 

"Yeah, well it does for humans, I don't know about gems." Steven replied, not opening his eyes. 

"I just do it cause it's fun." Amethyst splayed herself onto her mat, and began quietly snoring.   
Peridot and Spinel shared a glance before lying down to try out sleep as well. 

Spinel stared at the ceiling, contemplating the idea of sleep, the idea of being still. She didn't exactly like it, but Steven was really excited to show her and Peridot and he had planned a whole party just for the occasion so she couldn't very well turn him down.   
She fidgeted, unable to keep herself still as she closed her eyes. She turned her head to see Peridot entirely relaxed, had she fallen into sleep already?   
Was she the only one still awake? 

Spinel forced her eyes closed and waited, letting the world fall away, she felt somewhat like she was falling, slowly she stopped moving and she finally fell asleep. 

Daylight broke upon the ocean and sands of Beach City, stirring Steven as the light trickled in through the windows. He sat up, looking over his friends as they peacefully slept through the morning.   
Amethyst was spread wide across her sleeping bag, drooling slightly, while Peridot seemed to curl up into a little ball. Spinel lay flat on her back, her head tilted back and her arms up by her face.   
He smiled, and decided that a good sleepover should end with a great breakfast. 

Steven stood up and tiptoed around his friends, making his way to the kitchen and pulling out a carton of eggs, some frozen waffles and some bacon. He also intended to stop by the Big Donut to bring back some of Spinel and Amethyst's favorite donuts. 

As he set the carton of eggs down, out of the corner of his eye he saw the familiar triangular shape of Peridot's head pop up from the floor, she turned, her eyes squinting in the light and her hair frazzled from her tossing. 

"Did I do it?" She asked, still unsure if she achieved the goal of sleeping. Steven nodded, bringing a finger to his mouth to signal her to speak quietly. 

The gem nodded and got up, quietly scrambling around the other two gems to Steven's side. 

"What are you doing?" She whispered, watching him drop the bacon into hot water to slowly defrost. 

"I was gonna make everyone breakfast, while this defrosts I'll go get donuts, want to come?" He turned to the short green gem and she nodded. 

"Okay, be really quiet." He whispered, leading her around the sleeping gems and out the door, closing it as quietly and softly as he possibly could. 

After they left, maybe thirty minutes passed before Amythyst sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she spotted the eggs on the counter and smiled contently, already having an idea for what Steven had planned. She stood up, looking down at Spinel who still lay asleep on the floor and nudged her with her foot. 

"Hey, Spinel, wake up!" She said softly, kicking the gem's arm, it rolled and flopped like a limp hose, the gem didn't stir. Amethyst sighed, stepping over her to let her sleep and made her way into the kitchen, pulling out the defrosted bacon and setting it on the counter. 

The front door creaked open quietly and Steven and Peridot returned with a large box of donuts, a bakers dozen. 

He smiled, stepping around Spinel and setting the box on the counter. 

"I got some of your favorites, and some for Spinel too. Peridot if you want to try them you can." He said softly, opening the box to reveal the different types of donuts he had gotten. Peridot shook her head vigorously, the thought of consuming things was far too out of her comfort zone, more so than sleeping. 

"I can start off breakfast." Amethyst remarked, pulling a pan out and lighting the stove, she put a few slabs of bacon into the pan to simmer slowly as the heat rose.   
Steven turned to face his last sleeping friend, Spinel hadn't moved aside from turning her head to face the doorway. 

"I'll wake up Spinel." He smiled, crouching down next to her. 

"Good luck, I tried to wake her up earlier." Amethyst retorted. Steven nodded, surely Spinel couldn't sleep in too long, it was her first broach with slumber and she hadn't seemed like one to sleep too much.   
He gently pushed his friend. 

"Spinel, everyone is up, time to get up." He pushed her again, the limp gem simply rolled a little as he nudged. He chuckled to himself, "Spinel, come on?" 

He picked up her arm and it only stretched like taffy in his hands until her hand hit the floor. He couldn't help but laugh, almost hoping it would startle her awake.   
Spinel's mouth opened slightly and she made an odd moaning sound before her head lolled to the side, still asleep.   
Steven let out a sigh, deciding to let her sleep until she was ready to wake up again. He moved back to the kitchen as Amethyst finished his plate and handed it to him. The three of them sat at the counter, Peridot watched as the two of them ate their breakfast. 

"We should leave some donuts for Spinel when she wakes up." Steven mumbled through his last few chews, Amethyst rolled her eyes. 

"Its not our fault she didn't wake up to eat, plus those are good donuts, they'll be all stale by the time she gets up." She retorted reaching for one of the strawberry sprinkles. Steven swatted her hand away.

"Yeah but it would be unfair." He answered, grabbing the box and setting it in the fridge to keep fresh. He turned to Peridot who sat at the counter tapping her fingers. 

"You can go tell Lapis how it went if you want, Peridot." Steven laughed, the green gem jumped out her chair excitedly before running upstairs to the warp, narrowly avoiding stepping on Spinel as she passed.   
Steven put his hand to his chin in thought, glancing back at Amethyst. 

"We should probably move her." He chuckled, Amethyst laughed, moving to grab the gem's arms. 

"Yeah, maybe it'll wake her up too!" She snorted. Steven followed, tugging the sleeping bag out from around the pink gem and grabbing her feet. 

"Alright one, two, three." He pulled her legs up, and Amethyst pulled on Spinel's arms, but they only stretched and noodled in their grasp, the rest of the gem still lay on the ground undisturbed. 

"Maybe try a different way?" He offered, he dropped Spinel's legs and moved to her hips, hoping that the center of her body would be less malleable than her limbs. Amethyst grabbed the gem around her chest and the two hoisted her up, her stomach sagging toward the ground and they struggled to keep her from bending out of their control. 

"To the couch!" Steven gasped, frantically moving his arm to hold up Spinel's stomach. The gem's head flopped backward, hitting the floor with a thunk. It was remarkable that the impact alone didn't force her awake. Instead her neck stretched out and dragged her head behind her body, nearly tripping Steven as he threw her lower half onto the couch. 

The position they had put her in didn't remotely look comfortable, she was twisted and contorted in a way that looked quite interesting, one leg and arm was thrown over the back rear of the couch while the other fell off the couch and was a good three feet away where it ented under the coffee table, and her head was still on the floor, still snoozing away as if nothing had changed. 

Steven stared at the mess, wiping the sweat from his brow, he hadn't imagined she would be so heavy and so...relaxed. Amethyst grabbed her head and set it on the arm rest, tucking the extended portions of her neck into the space between while Steven rolled up her other leg and rested it on the other end of the couch. At least she was out of the way. 

"I guess we'll just leave her here till she wakes up?" He shrugged his shoulders, looking at Amethyst to see if she had a better idea. 

"There's no way I'm dragging her all the way into Rose's room." She remarked, pulling a spare blanket from the shelf and spreading it out on top of the gem to hide all her superfluously extended body parts. 

"She'll probably wake up in an hour?" Steven looked down at the sleeping gem with a smile. "I'll hang out here until she does, she'll probably freak out if no one's around when she wakes up." 

Amethyst nodded and made her way to the front door, waving goodbye to Steven as he walked upstairs to his room.   
The boy pulled out one of his videogames, putting it in the console to pass the time until Spinel woke up. 

Six hours passed. 

Steven paused his game, noticing the dark of the sky as the sun began to set. Spinel!   
He jumped off his bed and ran downstairs to make sure the gem wasn't having a breakdown.

She lay on the couch still, untouched and still entirely asleep.  
Surely she would be awake by now, was something wrong? Did she know how to wake up? Was she even able to?   
Maybe all those years standing in the garden, maybe it messed with her head and sleeping was bad for her? 

Steven sat down on the floor, grabbing the gem's hand and rubbing his thumb on her palm. She was so quiet, he could barely hear her small breaths, but could see the rise and fall of her chest under the blanket. She just didn't move, it worried him.   
She was just really tired. Really really tired and needed more rest than he thought.   
Steven stood up, setting her hand back down on her stomach and made his way back to his room to change into his pajamas. 

He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to let sleep take him to his dreams. It was fine, she'd wake up in the morning, it would be fine. He closed his eyes. 

Steven sat up in bed as soon as the light of the morning sun hit his eyes and scrambled downstairs to check on his friend, hoping that she would be awake eating the donuts he had saved for her.   
His hopes were crushed as he laid eyes on the still sleeping Spinel.   
He hung his head, looking down at the ground as he made his way to the kitchen to get breakfast.   
He opened the fridge, staring at the box of donuts for Spinel and pushed them aside to grab the carton of milk and make cereal.   
He made his cereal and sat down on the floor, setting the bowl on the coffee table and turning on the television as he ate. Perhaps the noise of that would wake her up?   
He finished his cereal, turning his head to check on Spinel just incase she stirred.   
He sighed, grabbing the bowl and bringing it to the sink before stopping at the fridge. 

"Maybe if I.." he trailed off, setting the bowl in the and opening the fridge to grab the spare donuts. He checked inside to make sure Amethyst hadn't eaten all of them. Still there.   
Relieved, he moved back to the coffee table and set the box down facing Spinel, partially opened so if she woke up she would see them. 

Amethyst entered from the infinity room, pausing by Steven before leaving the house. 

"She still asleep? Dang dude, guess she was more into it than we thought!" She laughed, though Steven could hear the mild concern in her voice. Even Amethyst knew it was abnormal to sleep for two whole days.   
He nodded sullenly, adjusting the box before sitting on the floor to watch television with the sleeping gem. 

Hours passed, and Spinel hadn't so much as moved, aside from accidentally knocking her hand down onto Steven's head.   
He sat on the ground, peeking at her every hour or so to see if she had woken, and the sun had already set. 

Steven got up, and went upstairs to go to bed. He couldn't sleep. Worry and concern pricked his brain as he lay in bed tossing and turning and waiting for his friend to wake up. She would wake up. She had to.   
Eventually? 

He sat up, grabbing his blanket and a pillow and trudging downstairs, moving the coffee table so he could fit himself in between it and the couch. He laid down and stared up, staring at Spinel, she moved, rolling over on her side and her hand flopped down to her face, resting under her cheek.   
Steven kicked the covers, making sure the blanket allowed his movement and rolled to his side as well.   
He stared into the gap between the couch and the floor for a while before twisting onto his back again. He looked at Spinel again. 

She was remarkably peaceful, for having been dead asleep for nearly three days. He lifted his arm in the air, balancing it for a moment before softly touching the gem's arm. Steven wrapped his fingers around her wrist and gently tugged, dislodging it from under her cheek and letting it fall to the floor. 

He grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly, the comfort of her unconscious presence made his worry decrease ever so slightly.

It was like waiting for Pearl to reform for the first time, it took days. Except Spinel wasn't poofed, she was right there with him. But not. And it hurt. 

He held her hand close to his face, rubbing his cheek on her soft skin, closing his eyes, ready to sleep. Hoping to sleep. 

Spinel's eyes slowly opened as the light of the sun poured through the windows, she shifted her weight, tossing slightly before pushing herself up, her hand caught on something off the couch and she looked down. 

Steven lay on the ground with her arm twisted and coiled around him like a rope, her hand firmly stuck between his cheek and the ground, and gripped tightly by his own.

She blinked, her eyes still adjusting to the sight and her mind still trying to process what was going on. She had moved, or had been moved from the sleeping bag and onto the couch. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and pushing her fingers through her hair as the sleep began to wear off. 

A box of donuts sat on the coffee table a little ways away with a note that said "for Spinel" on it. She grumbled softly, grabbing a donut to munch on before noticing Steven roll over, nearly pulling her off the couch. 

"Steven?" 

Steven turned, groaning to himself. Spinel pulled against his weight, her arm was so coiled around him that she could have turned him into a spinning top on the spot if she pulled hard enough. 

"Steven what are you doing?" She asked again, tugging enough to turn him over to face her. 

Steven mumbled, the familiar voice made him smile, until his fear began to trickle back into his mind. 

"Steven!" 

His eyes fluttered open and he blinked, trying to focus of the blurry image in front of him. It was Spinel, leaning over the couch staring at him. He shot up, releasing her hand and wrapping his arms around the gem's neck, startling her and almost pulling her down with him. 

"You woke up!" He cried excitedly, nuzzling her face against his. The gem moaned in confusion, unable to comprehend the sudden affection in the early hours after her nap. 

"Yeah?" She finally muttered, confused by the joy in his voice. 

"You were asleep for three days! I was worried you wouldn't wake up!" Steven replied, holding her tighter.   
Worried?   
He was worried for me? Spinel smiled weakly, blushing brightly at the thought of being so concerned for. She began to collapse, tumbling off the couch and onto Steven in a heap of happy noodly limbs. 

"I'm so glad you're back." Steven said softly, hugging his friend close to him.   
Spinel sighed contently. 

"Swell to be back."


End file.
